Advice for a new player.

Pheonyte

Hey all, as a total newcomer to the game I have a question, but I'll keep it brief.

I'm a fan of RP, PVE and Grouping, not so big on PVP. I've heard tales of the PVP aspect of the game encroaching on people who aren't interested in doing so. Is that true or can it be avoided?

Thanks in advance!

Volmarath

As a fellow new-ish player(one month), I can definetly say all the PVP I've been in was there because of me deciding to join the army in Hashan. I do think that if I hadn't, it wouldn't be there, so you're probably safe.

Sena

For most people, avoiding PvP isn't difficult, as long as you aren't stirring up trouble. Chances are you will be killed at some point though, maybe by accident, maybe because you were in a dangerous place and didn't realise it, maybe because someone is just being a jerk and decides to randomly kill you (this is rare, but it does sometimes happen). But death in Achaea usually isn't a big deal, so the healthiest way to deal with it is to just move on, and maybe hire an assassin to get revenge for you if you'd like. And if you're interested in PvE, your deaths to denizens will likely far outnumber your deaths to players anyways.

That being said, some of the good high-level hunting areas (such as Annwyn and the Underworld) are places where you could be killed by anyone at any time without any reason or warning, so it would be best to stay out of those areas if you want to entirely avoid any PvP.

Edit: For reference, I've been playing for about 10 years (on this character at least), and my death count from other players so far is only 10, or about 1 death per year.

Klendathu

My advice: Get off the forums, they are, by and large, the most unpleasant reflection of the playerbase. Come back to the forums later when you're already hooked on the game

Pheonyte

That's great guys, thanks a lot for the quick replies, especially Sena for the detailed veteran info! I'm enjoying it very much already, see you in game.

Vokun

Depending on your faction/house you might be regularly asked to spar or dual once you hit a certain might/level/rank. Lots of newbies aren't true newbies and know all about your faction at a glance of your title. If you decline some are polite and others will give some shit eating taunt about it, "Oh? I thought you were sposed to be a <insert house/city>, oh well..I guess you learn something everyday.." Bear in mind that if you run across someone like that take note. Its a very good chance when you get better at pvp that same person will talk endless amounts of shit when you kill them.

Also you will on occasion run across people that will be disrespectful to you, attempt theft on you, or something to try to instigate pvp from you. Although you will never technically be forced to pvp though.

But yeah avoid forums especially the rants section. Anything you read there assume has been written hundreds of times, by hundreds of different people since the dawn of Achaea.

Kresslack

There are plenty of ways to stay out of the PvP scene. Most people intermingle between PvE and some PvP, as necessitated by city defenses and such. But even being in a city you're not necessarily obligated as an individual citizen to join a defense or raid. The exception to this may be places like Mhaldor where it's an authoritarian, militaristic atmosphere.

One thing to learn quickly about is the various places which open you up to conflict whether you seek it or not. Such as various high-level areas that are favoured for hunting, mainly Underworld (UW for short). Also, if you get involved in Seafaring, it has it's own inherent risks and is often treated as an open-pvp environment.

Roleplay your character how you wish, try to read up on the cities and Houses and see if any of them appeal to you and would be a good fit for the character you have in mind. As a new player, I wouldn't recommend going the Rogue route until you're more familiar with the game and economics, because you're going to have a lot of questions and limited resources for getting answers. Cities and Houses are a great place to learn.